What Is the Story About?
The series follows the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates as they explore the dangerous oceans, lands, and everything beyond searching for the eponymous “One Piece”, a treasure that will make their captain, Monkey D. Luffy, “King of the Pirates”. But they are not the only crew searching for the One Piece. This adventurous journey follows the Straw Hats persistence and determination to live their dreams together.
Performances?
The show-stealer being Inaki Godoy who plays the titular Monkey D Luffy. Although a bit tamed in comparison to the manga version, Godoy is charming, witty and the way he delivers those comic-witty punch-liners hit the bullseye.
The fan-favourite Nami, played by Emily Rudd however is the best part about Netflix’s One Piece. Her tough demeanor, soft heart and enigmatic screen-presence does a lot to the character than one can weigh.
Jacob Romero Gibson’s Usopp makes you crave for a loyal friend like him. However, the character doesnt really get the treatment it deserves in the show. Taz Skylar’s Sanji also makes a mark as the charming chef of the Straw Hats. Mackenyu who plays Roronoa Zoro is pitch perfect in his part, be it when he displays emotions or stays in his aloof & stiff zone.
The hectic task of live-adapting a comic/manga is half done, if you get the casting right. And, safe to say Netflix’s One Piece does a real good job at this.
Analysis
Based on Eiichiro Oda’s eponymous and long running manga ‘One Piece’, a thematically rich and extravagant adventure comedy fantasy, Netflix’s latest adaptation tries to do the magnum opus adaptation of the magnum opus manga to near honesty and perfection developed by Matt Owens & Steven Maeda.
Eiichoro Oda’s manga is a long running one. There are so many out of the world sequences, extraordinarily layered characters throughout it’s run-time and adapting something this universally loved onscreen in a series format is a tiresome and difficult job. But after a long series of duds, Netflix seems to have gotten it right this time.
Netflix’s One Piece is a condensed version of the anime/manga that focusses on Monkey D Luffy (the good pirate) and his crew’s search for the revered ‘One Piece’ treasure, a mysterious treasure whose ownership will crown the next pirate King, whose reference the show tries to make in the opening shot itself. But, what the show struggles at is trimming out the necessary while also being faithful to the source material.
Netflix’s One Piece struggles to include every major event in the manga and in doing so overtly becomes a salad of sorts of some epic set-pieces that fall out of the radar. The entire origin story of Luffy, how he gained his ability to stretch, how he found his tribe aka his Straw Hat Pirates etc besides their most adventurous voyages.
What Netflix’s One Piece tries is to give the gigantic experience and exhilarating fan-service to fruition while compromising a bit lot on the characters and their holistic development and this is the issue with most adaptations btw. That said, One Piece tries its best to be loyal to the source material, with an earnest job at the casting and the production design and even the screenplay.
The action set-pieces are joyously over the top, fun and super entertaining. None of the episodes bore you (mind you, this is when the show crams quite a lot in minimal time) and does a fabulous job at building the extravagant world with chuckling idiosyncrasies. The visuals are pleasing and all the gigantic creatures are convincing enough on screen.
And above all you have a fabulously cut to the tee casting, be it Godoy who gives his life, charm and wit to Luffy, or Romero who plays the yin to Luffy’s yang, or Taz Skylar’s Sanji. Nevertheless, the star attraction and the best performer of the lot is Emily Rudd, who breathes everything in her mettle to Nami.
In short, Netflix’s One Piece does take all efforts possible to stay as faithful as it can to its source material, but does fall to the regular shortcomings while tending to fan-service and Over-the-top nature of the world it creates. It is surely entertaining and has a charming cast aboard and will certainly find new fans for the manga. But, one can’t help but notice how it struggles to settle its priorities and floats in between, despite being a sincere outing that doesn’t do the famous manga any disservice.
Music and Other Departments?
Sonya Belousova & Giona Ostinelli has done a fabulous job in One Piece. Be it the background score or the entirety of the sound-track, they’ve managed to do justice to the soundtrack of the anime version. Wealth Fame Power and We Are especially are legit solid compositions.
The production design team of One Piece deserves a pay on their back for all the honest efforts in bringing Eiichiro Oda’s fantasy world to screens. Nicole Hirsch Whitaker & Michael Wood’s cinematography is also laudable for its OTT-ness and romance with fantasy.
Highlights?
faithful to manga
Strong casting
World Building
Exceptional action set-pieces
Goofy writing
Emily Rudd
Production Design
Drawbacks?
Not a seamless adaptation
Too short for how big the source material is
Tries to do a lot in limited time
sometimes OTT-ness is on the nose
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes, certainly.
One Piece Series Review by Binged Bureau
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